Image: June Wan/ZDNET.
Just over ten days after the launch of the foldable Galaxy Z Flip 4, teardown expert PKBreviews reveals what’s under the hood, behind its specs, before customers receive their order.
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 is not much different from the Z Flip 3. They share the same 6.7-inch AMOLED primary display and 1.9-inch Super AMOLED secondary display, have high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, similar cameras and come with 8GB of RAM.
The Z Flip 4 hits stores and mailboxes on August 26, so the teardown is useful for those still wondering whether to invest in foldable devices.
A hard-to-reach battery
A notable difference between the Flip 3 and the Flip 4 is the battery capacity. The Flip 3 has a 3,300 mAh battery, while the Flip 4 has a 3,700 mAh battery, which should give owners of the new device an additional three hours of battery life.
But PKBreviews’ teardown suggests it’s not easy to get to the batteries, which are glued in place and buried under several flexible ropes, brackets and planks in each half of the foldable. One side houses a smaller 1700mAh battery and the other a 2630mAh battery.
A fairly low repairability score
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 probably isn’t for those who like fixing their own hardware. PKBreviews gave it an overall repairability rating of four out of ten. It scored 0.5 out of 2 for screen replacement and 0.5 out of 2 for how easy it is to replace the battery.
PKBreviews dared not remove the screen from the Z Flip 4 because there was a high chance of damaging the device.
Another notable feature, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is waterproof but not dustproof. The Z Flip 3 completely failed iFixit’s dust test.
Source: ZDNet.com